As much as we love west London, there’s no denying it has had its share of truly horrible crimes which have left the nation shocked.

From serial murderers, to heartbreaking schoolgirl abductions, and the brutal murder of our police officers, events that have unfolded on west London’s streets and inside its homes have often found themselves on the front pages of national newspapers, and even made international news.

Here, getwestlondon takes a look at some of the grisly crimes and the criminals who have left their unwanted mark on the area.

Our timeline starts in a rundown area in Notting Hill, just after the Second World War, with a crime which still continues to captivate the nation.

So let us take you to Rillington Place, home of John Christie...

Time Line

A look at seven of West London's most shocking crimes

  1. John Christie and the Rillington Road murders

    The address in Notting Hill is one of the most notorious in the country.

    In the 1950s, crowds would gather outside to stare in morbid fascination at 10 Rillington Place.

    It was the home of serial killer John Christie , and where many of his victims were discovered in a kitchen alcove and buried in the garden.

    His victims included his wife and several prostitutes.

    Before justice caught up with him, he let his neighbour Timothy Evans - whose wife Beryl was among his victims - wrongly hang for her murder.

    Despite the passing of decades the name of the murderer or his address has always remained part of the national psyche.

  2. The Nude Murders

    This was a series of murders which saw the perpetrator dubbed Jack the Stripper because of the comparisons to the Jack the Ripper case.

    Eight prostitutes were killed in west London in the 1960s. The killings were also known as the Nude Murders, as all victims were stripped naked, strangled and left by the Thames in Hammersmith, Brentford , Ealing, Chiswick, Kensington and Mortlake.

    The murderer was never caught.

  3. Shepherd's Bush Massacre

    The murders of three unarmed police officers in cold blood on Braybrook Street in 1966 shocked a nation.

    Arch-villian Harry Roberts, along with Jack Witney and John Duddy, gunned down Detective Sergeant Christopher Head, 30, Temporary Detective Constable David Wombwell, 25, and PC Geoffrey Fox, 41 on August 12, in a crime that would be known throughout the country as the Shepherd's Bush Massacre.

    A moving ceremony held in 2016 marked 50 years since their murders, with among those attending the widow and children of one of the fallen officers.

    Roberts was released from prison in 2014 after serving 48 years in prison.

  4. Jill Dando

    We appear to be living in a cult of celebrity age, which made the violent murder of Crimewatch host Jill Dando outside her Fulham home all the more shocking.

    She was shot dead outside her home in Gowan Avenue in 1999.

    Barry George, who lived nearby was jailed for her murder, but the conviction was later quashed and he was found acquitted in a retrila.

    To this day, no one has been convicted of Ms Dando's murder

  5. Levi Bellfield

    While the majority of his most most notorious murders were carried out on the edge of London and beyond, serial killer lived in West Drayton, and was convicted of a heinous attempted murder in Hounslow.

    Bellfield was jailed for life in 2008 for the murders of Marsha McDonnell (Hampton) and Amelie Delagrange (Twickenham), and the attempted murder of Isleworth schoolgirl Kate Sheedy.

    In 2011 he was found guilty of the murder of Surrey schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

    Bellfield, who lived in Little Benty, West Drayton, was registered as a bouncer in Hillingdon and ran a wheelclamping firm in the borough.

  6. First murder of its kind in over a century

    Mum-of-three Lakhvir Kaur Singh killed her lover Lakhvinder Cheema, 39, with a poisoned curry after he got engaged to a younger woman.

    She was handed a life sentence after using the herb aconite after he ended their secret 16-year affair.

    Two weeks before the wedding, Singh sprinkled the toxin – also known as Wolfsbane – over a vegetarian meal she served to the couple in January 2009.

    Mr Cheema was blinded and paralysed within an hour and died shortly after arriving at hospital. Girlfriend Gurgeet Choough, 22, fell into a coma but survived.

    Singh, from Marlborough Road, Southall, was convicted of murdering Mr Cheema and grievous bodily harm with intent on Ms Choough.

    She is the first person to be convicted of murder by aconite poisoning since 1882, when Dr George Lamson was sent to the gallows.

    She was told she will serve a minimum of 23 years in jail for her crimes.

  7. Alice Gross

    The disappearance and murder of Hanwell schoolgirl Alice Gross left the country reeling.

    The 13-year-old went missing on August 28, 2014, while walking alone, and her body was recovered from the River Brent on September 30.

    The hunt for missing Alice Gross is the biggest police search since 7/7 bombings.

    Arnis Zalkans, the prime suspect in the case, was found hanged in Boston Manor Park. It soon emerged he had served seven years in prison for murdering his wife in his native Latvia.

    An inquest heard it was likely Zalkans took his own life after murdering Alice.

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